Soul Meets Body
by officersun524
Summary: Sam and Vala assuage each other's loneliness. Set after "Family Ties". Spoilers through that episode.


Title: Soul Meets Body

Notes: Thanks to my beta sarahjane for her help.

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><p>I want to live where soul meets body<br>And let the sun wrap its arms around me  
>And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing<br>And feel, feel what it's like to be new

~~~ "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab For Cutie

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><p>The first wine bottle was empty, placed on the edge of her nightstand along with their wine glasses. The other, a second that she kept stashed in her room, sat next to it, half empty.<p>

Vala had lowered the lights as the evening had progressed, she and Sam, talking, joking about the boys, about the general lack of any interesting television programs that evening, about the lack of anything interesting in general. Jackets and boots had been shed more for comfort's sake than any other thought.

Not that she would have had any other thought. Samantha Carter? No, she seriously doubted Sam Carter had any illicit thoughts about _anyone_.

Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the treasure box that was making her suddenly sentimental; Vala wasn't sure what possessed her to share the useless trinkets with Sam but one particular thing had caught Sam's eye, a small, gold cross-like charm.

"I don't even know where this came from…" Vala pinched the delicate chain between her fingers, lifting it from a small hook inside the box. "I really don't know where he got most of these things—"

"Can I…" Sam cupped her hand and Vala placed it in her palm. Sam cradled it like a small bird. She glanced up at Vala. Her short blonde hair was messy around her face but it was the eyes that drew Vala in—blue, wide and liquid. Sam Carter, whom she'd never seen as anything but composed, was crying.

"I…I'm sorry." She handed it back and stood quickly from where she'd been perched on the bed, only to stumble back a little and catch the foot board to keep herself from falling.

Vala caught her by the wrist. There was nothing masculine about it, thick and strong boned, yet smooth under Vala's fingertips. She felt the pulse under the skin quicken and knew Sam had felt it too, the tingle, the electricity of a touch that had seemed too long denied.

"Uh…" Sam struggled out.

"Please. Don't go yet. Lie down." It wasn't an order, or even a suggestion. An invitation followed by the smile that Vala couldn't keep to herself.

Sam nodded and stretched out while Vala stayed near the foot board, taking in the long form of the woman who occupied the bed. The bed seemed much smaller than she remembered now, but, of course, had there been anyone else in it since she'd acquired this room? This room, personalized as much as she could with whatever she'd been able to purchase (with Daniel's help or without), and no one to admire it, much less share it.

"The chain…" Vala held it in her palm then spilled it into her other, open hand, watching as the gold links slid one on top of the other.

"It…it reminds me of someone." The wine dulled Carter's words, wrapping them in a fog so that they fell heavily from her mouth. Vala had never heard her sound that way before.

"Someone important." Vala closed her fist around the trinket and walked around to the nightstand where she plucked the wine bottle from where it sat. "More?"

Sam shook her head. "No. No more."

Vala nodded, standing at the bed's edge next to where Sam was stretched out.

"'Someone important.' Yeah." Carter sighed. "I…I don't like to talk about it, if it's ok. She's gone and I…" She turned her heads toward Vala, offering a sheepish half smile. "I miss her."

"I understand." Whom did _she_ miss? Not her father, no, that much was obvious. Trinkets aside, sentiment aside, wishing aside…she had lived a lifetime without him, with nothing but tokens. That part of her was gone, nothing but small remembrances tucked under a bed.

Tomin? Adria? Tomin, perhaps. Yet…So many years behind her spent running, so many places, so many lives that hadn't touched her. And Sam had this one that still caused her pain.

"You've lost someone close?" Sam turned on her side, propping her head against her palm, elbow crooked against the pillow, the other hand open in front of her.

"No…" Vala shook her head and gazed down at Sam. Beautiful, alone, like a mirror to Vala on the inside: Sam kept whatever feelings she had hidden behind the professional exterior of a United States Air Force officer. Vala kept hers behind a maze of half truths and schemes at times so complex that she wondered if there was a part of her that would ever feel truth again.

Oh, she'd tried with Daniel, tried to reach him with truth, but he refused to see past the maze.

Would Samantha Carter feel any differently? Was it worth the risk?

"No one…" Vala's voice trailed off.

Sam's eyes were intent on Vala's own, waiting, but Vala could see the pity there.

"Oh. No. I mean…" She tried to shrug it off, one shoulder rounding forward a little like she could physically push away the question. She knelt down beside the bed so that she was face to face with Sam.

It was the wine, Vala was certain, the wine that was making her heady and vulnerable all at once, the wine that made her reach out and drop the gold chain from her fist into Sam's open hand.

"Keep it," she said.

"No…No, I couldn't." Sam looked from Vala to the trinket in her hand then back to Vala, her face not giving anything away.

"Please." Her hand found its way to Sam's hair, brushing her fingertips over Sam's forehead as she pushed a lock of hair away. "I know…I know you think I don't like you much," she whispered.

She'd wondered, wondered when Colonel Carter would finally tire of her talking and her obstinacy, of her constant interruptions of the patiently explained science, when Carter would finally lobby General Landry to kick her through the gate with no final destination. _Out of our hair, _as Mitchell might have said.

Carter laughed slightly, her mouth quirking up at the corner. "No. No. I never thought that. I think I 'get' you, Vala. What I don't get is…Daniel…"

"Daniel?" She pulled her hand away. "You and Daniel? But I thought you and General—"

"No. Not—Daniel and I are friends. Jack…it's…complicated. Always too complicated."

"Complicated."

"No. It's Daniel. He's got the willpower of a monk because if you were pursuing me the way you've pursued him…" She put her hand over Vala's.

"Samantha Carter, are you propositioning me?" She felt a slow smile melt across her face, the smooth hand over hers. Felt _something_ that didn't come across as a threat or an order.

"What would you think if I were?"

A million things, all of them leading to sex, but she kept her mouth shut for once and let out a sigh as Sam's fingers grazed her scalp. It seemed like such a long time since anyone had wanted to touch her in any way other than trying to shove her from one place to another. She'd gotten to the point where even that had been welcome, anything to feel another human being's skin on hers.

This? This was starting to drive her a little bit insane. Sam edged closer to her, fingers tangled in Vala's wild black hair.

Vala closed her eyes. _Don't stop. Please…?_

Fingertips along her jaw, gentler than Tomin, or even the one or two occasions where Daniel had deigned to reach out to her. Sam's hands were uncalloused and light against her cheek, along the bridge of her nose, fingertips along Vala's slightly parted lips.

"Okay?" Sam whispered.

"Mm-hmm…" She opened her eyes and took Sam's hand in her own, bringing it to her lips and kissing each finger. She heard Sam sigh softly, then leaned in, still holding Sam's hand, her lips meeting Sam's, soft and parted.

They were pliable against her own, Sam's warm breath inside her, both hands in Vala's hair now, pulling her closer.

"You…" Vala whispered against the parted lips.

"What?" Sam drew back and looked at her, one eyebrow cocked in a question.

"You…I mean, I didn't think you and women…" Why, why, why question it now when those hands were still in her hair, then moving slowly down the back of her neck, fingertips grazing her spine just above the collar of her t-shirt.

Sam laughed slightly. "Vala, sometimes you talk too much." She sat up, and pulled Vala to her feet, then reached her hands under Vala's black t-shirt. Vala's hands moved to Sam's shoulders, gripping them as she felt the other woman's mouth on the soft skin of her belly, hands moving towards the belt on her pants, quickly undoing the buckle as Sam stood up, until their mouths met again.

"Vala…" Sam murmured into her mouth. Vala felt the heat at her center, rising, clouding her thoughts. Soft hands traveled over her body and made her legs weak. It had been so long since anyone had taken the time, the care; she had never imagined it would be Samantha Carter who'd break the spell.

Sam pulled her down slowly to the bed and pressed her to the mattress.

"You…" Vala wanted to see it, the darkness of desire that turned Sam Carter's eyes a deep blue. Sam, whose expression was usually set to neutral, had a look of intensity quieted by the smile that quirked her lips just a little. Carter was clearly in control and they both knew it.

The thought both frightened and excited her. She was the one used to control, to manipulation, to getting her way through whatever means necessary. She felt like so much putty now, waiting to be fashioned into something new.

Sam lifted Vala's t-shirt over her head, gently teased her pants past her hips until Vala was lying there, naked.

"You're beautiful." Sam smiled at her, then quickly stripped off her own clothes and lay beside her. She shifted her body over Vala's, her lips traversing Vala's slim body, mapping territory that had been left untouched for too long.

Vala let herself go, heard the moan deep in her throat. "Sam…"

"Sshh…" Sam laid two fingers over Vala's lips, smiling down at her. "How long has it been?" she whispered.

_Tomin?_ She couldn't think, not with Sam's fingers tracing patterns on her body. Tomin had loved her, had held her close but not like this; his lovemaking had been sweet but simple, furtive under bedcovers.

Not like this, not like the heat that Sam's hands ignited inside her as she moved in closer, then over her, hips aligned with hers, holding herself just inches away from contact.

"We okay?" Sam whispered into her ear, warm breath ghosting Vala's neck.

"Mmm-hmm…" She closed her eyes. Lips along her neck, to her mouth, slowly parting it. Vala responded, her mouth pressed against Sam's until Sam moved away and down, mouth taking her in, down further.

Vala had one hand in Sam's hair, the other gripping the bedclothes; her body didn't feel like her own as her legs parted further, giving way to Samantha Carter's mouth and fingers as they caressed her.

Too long. Behind closed eyes were too many things fighting for her focus, too many things weighing on her heart. How many people had she hurt like this, taking them to her bed because she needed something—lodging, money …comfort…?

Sam's fingers reached inside, careful. Vala opened her eyes, Sam meeting her gaze as her mouth and fingers worked in tandem.

Did Sam know her? Did either of them care at this point?

The warmth spread through her body as her back arched off the bed, a long moan escaping from her throat. Sam pulled away slowly, Vala watching the smile on her face when it all hit her too hard, slamming her out of the moment.

She hitched in her breath, trying to hide it, but she couldn't bite back the sob. Sam was at her side immediately.

"Vala? I didn't…I didn't hurt you…"

"No. No." She shook her head and tried to turn away but Sam wouldn't let her. She moved in close and took Vala in her arms, stroking her hair, skin pressed against Vala's.

"What is it?"

Vala shook her head. "Thank you."

Sam smiled and shook her head, confused. "Okay…you're welcome."

Vala laughed but it came out uncertain, a cross between a laugh and a cry. "No. I mean, yes, for that too but…thank you. And I can't explain it, but thank you."

"It's ok, Vala. You're safe here." Sam stroked her hair. "Didn't you know? You're home."

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End file.
